Ma'at Campaign
The Ma'at Campaign took place within the Ma'at System with the forces of the Mechanicum, under the command of Secutor Erridan Kraus, launching a campaign to cleanse the world of Ma'at of Greenskins. This campaign was the pivotal action of the wider campaign known as the Taurian Cleansing where forces of the Mechanicum were tasked with wiping out the Greenskin infestation within the Taurian Sub-Sector. The campaign to take Ma'at was estimated to take no longer than 1 year at most, but the event known as the Ma'at Disaster saw that the campaign would take 4 years to complete with the need to call upon Astartes forces to aid the beleaguered troops of the Mechanicum. History Defense of Kori The Taurian Cleansing began shortly after the Imperial Victory over the Greenskin invasion of the mining world of Kori, known as the Defense of Kori which took place between 498.M41 - 500.M41. Emyl Garidos led a force of Skitarii, Battle Automata, and Auxilia Myrmidon from the Obsidian Forge Temple of Stygies VIII to bolster the meager defenses of Kori in an attempt to repel the Greenskin invasion. After a bloody series of engagements, the Greenskins were on the verge of overwhelming the defenders, for Emyl had attempted to defeat the Orks at their Rok crash sites but was utterly outmatched by sheer weight of numbers. Warboss Borx Gutrencher butchered Emyl Garidos and his honor guard after smashing through the Mechanicum's faltering lines with his own band of nobs. The rest of the Mechanicum's forces fought a fighting retreat to various strong points on the planet following the death of Emyl. However, the majority of Mechanicum troops were overwhelmed in the field during their flight to safety and all the mines of Kori were quickly lost to the Green tide. Within months of loss after loss, only one bastion remained in Mechanicum hands left under command of Erridan Kraus. Barely a cohort of Skitarii and a maniple of Auxilia Myrmidon were fighting off a force of some 10,000 Orks. Luckily, Kraus masterfully took up the reins of command and saw off 9 Greenskin assaults upon the battered walls of the mining world's main fortress. However, the walls were breached in the 8th assault with the detonation of a large ammunition's deposit when a stray Ork mortar shell breached the depot's roof. Orks flooded the breach during the 9th assault and they were only barely held off with the Mechanicum's final reserves being thrown into the fray. Only 2 maniples of Skitarii remained and a handful of Myrmidons were left standing following the repelling of the 9th wave. Kraus knew he could not hold the walls for a 10th time and so pulled his forces back and allowed the Greenskins to pour into the fortress' outer courtyards. From the ramparts of the inner fortress walls, Kraus watched as thousands of Greenskins poured into the courtyard and began throwing themselves at the second, much less formidable, walls of the fortress. Again, the Greenskin assault was pushed back but had almost overtaken the defenders with sheer weight of numbers. For, the inner walls had far fewer heavy weapons and was itself only half the height of the outer wall. Kraus watched from his position on the ramparts as the Greenskin warboss stood at the center of his horde, anticipating that the fortress would fall with this final assault. The Greenskin amassed the full array of his forces around him and sounded the charge once he felt prepared to unleash his warriors. The horde bellowed their savage warcry and began to swell forward as Kraus raised a single hand holding a device which flashed red. Borx watched first in confusion and then terror as Kraus flipped the switch with a single mechanized finger. The Secutor watched silently as the ground trembled all along the courtyard. Moments later, the horde's warcry was deafened by the sound of countless high explosives going off below and around their feet. In seconds the horde was consumed by a torrent of hellfire. Upon taking position within the fortress, Kraus knew he could never hope to match the Orks pound for pound and knew that eventually they would overwhelm his outer defenses. So, whilst his forces fought the Greenskins off during the first few waves, he had his reserves plant mining charges, jerry-rigged improvised explosives, and barrels of promethium throughout the outer courtyards of the fortress to ambush the inevitable Ork breakthrough. In a single action, Kraus slew Warboss and butchered thousands of Orks, including most of the horde's nobs. Before the dust had even settled following the massive cacophony of explosives, Kraus ordered the remainder of his troops, bolstered by surviving penal slaves and servitors who worked the planet's mines, to sally forth. They butchered what few orks survived the firestorm. The loss of their warboss and the unexpected counter-attack broke the Orks. The remainder of the horde at the fortress fled to the mines they had captured where they squabbled amongst themselves, fighting for dominance of their small domains. This infighting gave Kraus and his warriors much needed time to await reinforcements. Eight months had passed until reinforcements were mustered with Kraus being given overall command of the Mechanicum's forces on the planet. Kraus led a campaign of cleansing and quickly retook the mines lost to the Orks, ending the xenos presence upon the planet. Following the genocidal campaign, Kori was free of the Greenskin infestation within a few months and Kraus returned to Stygies VIII to a hero's welcome and was promoted to Secutor. He was then tasked with cleansing the rest of the Sub-Sector of Greenskins after showing his quality. His actions showed his superiors his ability to outsmart and crush the Greenskins despite facing overwhelming odds. Taurian Cleansing Begins Following the defeat of the Greenskin Waaagh on Kori, Erridan was recalled by his father to return to Stygies VIII. Upon his return, Erridan was welcomed with cheering and a military triumph and elevated to the rank of Secutor. He was granted complete command of all Auxilia Myrmidon forces of his father's forge temple and then granted the rights to raise and command two Macroclades of Skitarii to cleanse the Taurian Sub-Sector. It took Kraus a year to assemble his forces, equipping and training them with the aid of numerous forges that supported the campaign. By the end, he gathered a fleet of 6 warships and 3 transports consisting of 1 Lunar-Class Cruiser, 2 Dauntless-Class Light Cruisers, and 3 Firestorm Frigates. In 3 years time, Kraus had reconquered 5 planets with no casualties to his fleet and acceptable losses of his ground forces, of which he was able to recover due to receiving regular reinforcements from Stygies VII. He had 1 more planet left in his sights, Ma'at. The former industrial world was the second most important planet of the sub-sector and was expected to have a mediocre number of orks somewhere in the 1 - 2 million range. Unbeknownst to him and his advisers........ The initial purgation of the Greenskins was going well. Following the death of their warboss upon Kori, the Greenskin hordes broke into rival warbands as Nobs and minor Warbosses fought for dominance across the sub-sector. This allowed Kraus to lead his forces to victory after victory against the fledgling Greenskin held planets. However, his train of victories ended with a crushing defeat upon the planet of Ma'at in 504.M41. Unbeknownst to Erridan, a Greenskin known by the name of Tukthar the Red had managed to unite the Ork warbands of Ma'at before his arrival and turned the once industrial world into an Ork stronghold and was attracting large numbers of Greenskins to his cause through the construction of numerous Gargants and other Ork machines of war. Tukthar also managed to create an unsteady alliance with the Freebooter now known as Admiral Zigoth Iron Gob. Reports about a Greenskin Warboss rising in power upon the former industrial world of Ma'at drew Erridan's attention, who then decided to crush the Ork before he could begin another Waaagh and savage the sub-sector once again. ....................... The Ma'at Campaign was the pivotal action during the Mechanicum's cleansing of Greenskins from the Taurian Sub-Sector known as the Taurian Cleansing. The campaign to cleanse the sub-sector began with the Defense of Kori where Erridan Kraus earned his promotion to Secutor after slaying the Greenskin Warboss Borx Gutrencher who invaded the mining planet with his minor Waaagh. Kraus was then ordered to wipe the rest of the sub-sector clean of Greenskins so as to prevent further incursions of Greenskins from their infestation in the region. The campaign went well for the first three years, with the outer worlds of the system easily being claimed from the Greenskins by Kraus due to internal conflict, lack of organization, and relatively low numbers of Greenskins. However, by the end of the at the end of 501.M41, reports arose from Kraus' scouting parties that upon the world of Ma'at was a Greenskin who was consolidating Orks in the region for a renewed Waaagh into Imperial Space. This Greenskins Warboss known as Tukthar the Red was a massive beast which managed to unify the densely populated world of Ma'at under his rule. The rising of the Greenskin Warboss Tukthar the Red on Ma'at led to Erridan Kraus taking his crusading force to crush the Warboss before he could mount a significant threat to the Mechanicum's interests in the region. The Ma'at Campaign was estimated to take no longer than 1 year to cleanse the planet and slay the warboss. Category:Battles Category:Adeptus Mechanicus Category:Adeptus Mechanicus Characters Category:Orks Category:Campaigns